Wake Me Up
by worldisyourerster
Summary: Katherine dreams of the death of a dark haired boy. Each night, she wakes up screaming, his dead body implanted on her mind, until her parents decide to send her to a school for the mentally unstable. There, she meets Jack, a boy who chooses to remain silent, and whose drawing show scenes from her nightmares. Only he's not on the outside looking in, he's the one whose dead.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey Guys, Ink here. From theater104. I finally got my own account. So eventually I will be transferring Scars On Our Hearts to this account, but for now here is chapter one for Wake Me Up. **

**Disclaimer: I own it, I own it all! *wakes up*Dang it!**

They think I'm crazy. Don't listen to them. I'm just as sane as you are.

Which is to say, I'm insane.

* * *

_Bullets ripped through the war torn sky, and soldiers fell as if the were dominos, and the bullets were a laughing childs finger. It smelled of shit and rotting flesh, because no one had managed remove the bodies from the trenches after the last battle. The person who had been assigned to do that was now one of those corpses he was supposed to bury. I floated through the air, not bothering to dodge the bullets. I knew they wouldn't hurt me. They never did. Nothing could touch me, and none of the mens eyes could detect my presence. I tried to ignore their screams as the mustard gas was released and continued my walk along the trenches, looking for the one man who stared in all of my dreams. I finally found him, his dark hair tucked up in his helmet, sweat dripping down his forehead. His face was twisted in pain, like it always was when I saw him. I knew he would not survive this battle, just like he didn't survive the gladiator fights or the guillotine. He hadn't survived anyone of my dreams. He always ended up dead, his hazel eyes lifeless, his body limp. I should be used to it by now; I've been watching him die every night since I was 14. In the three years since then I've seen him die in every time period, in every way. He's been assassinated, murdered, shot down in cold blood. He's died heroically, throwing himself in the way of a bullet about to hit his friend. He's died in a blubbering heap, begging for mercy. So this time, when the bullet flies across the battlefield, and rips through his body, I simply blink, and wake up screaming. _

* * *

" Katherine, your mother and I have decided that it's for the best that you attend Lower Manhattan School For The Mentally Unstable this year." I blinked. They were sending me away? I stared into my fathers steely eyes to find no remorse. He didn't love me. So I exploded.

" Your sending me to an insane asylum? How could you! Did you even read Ten Days In A Madhouse?" My father sighed as if he had expected this.

" Katherine, darling, things have changed alot since Nellie Blys time." My father replied, checking his watch as if he didn't have time for this. I crossed my arms firmly. How dare he send me away. How dare he. My mother sensed my agitation and decided to but in.

" Sweetie, LMS is a wonderful school, not a asylum." I stared at her in disbelief. Her too? " We decided a school for… special people.. would be best considering.." She hesitated, like she wanted to say something else. " The circumstances." I shook my head, practically shaking with fury.

" I thought you loved me. I thought you cared!" With that I turned on my heel and stormed out of my fathers office, preparing to never leave my room again.

* * *

Today was the day. THe day I had tried to prevent from happening. I had tried to reason with them. When that didn't work, I had screamed and thrown a fit. When that failed I ran away but the simply sent the police after me without batting an eye. Everything I did to prevent them from sending me away only convinced them I needed to go. Everything I owned had be shoved into suitcases by my fathers butler, leaving my room bare and empty. I snapped my small backpack closed, and taking one last look around my room, marched down to the car with my head held high. They would not see me cry over leaving this place. Over leaving them. I slipped out into the sunlight, sliding into the backseat without looking back. My face was a stone. My fathers driver slipped into the drivers seat, and I turned my head towards my father. The car roared and started, and soon all was quiet except for the low hum of the engine. I watched my home disappear through the window, avoiding my fathers gase. It was only when he cleared his throat that I looked back towards him.

" Katherine, this really is what's best for all of us." I glared at him.

" How is this best for all of us?" I questioned, glaring.

" Well, you can resolve whatever issues you have, and I can make sure no one knows my daughter is-" I swear smoke started coming out of my ears.

" Your ashamed of me?" I asked, astounded. " Thats why you're sending me away?" I shook my head in disbelief. " I can't believe it. My own father is ashamed of me." He simply sat there, steely eyes showing no remorse, like I had finally guessed the truth and he didn't want to deny it. " Thanks for having so much faith in me." I said sarcastically, turning away from him, vowing never to acknowledge him again.

* * *

Fact: Lower Manhattan School for the Mentally Unstable is not in Manhattan. found this out after our car drove right through the bustling streets of Manhattan and out into the middle of no where. There goes all my plans for escaping and running to my cousin's place in Brooklyn. When we finally skidded to a stop, I found myself staring at a wall 25 feet tall, made of red brick completely surrounded by fields of copper colored grass. I removed my bags from the trunk without a word, still staring up over the wall.

" Oh darling, we've been expecting you." A chubby women with chocolate skin and a genuine smile gushed as she bustled over to us. " Here let me take that." She grabbed a suitcase from my hand. " I'm Miss Medda Larkin, but you can call me Medda. I'm your dorms dean."

" Katherine-" I started to say my last name, but stopped myself. My father doesn't love me. I shouldn't use his name. " Just Katherine."

" Well, I'll let you say your goodbyes." Medda said, taking a few steps back. My father cleared his throat.

" Goodbye Katherine." He said, extending a hand for a shake. I didn't take it. After a few seconds of standing there awkwardly, he turned away and hopped into the car. I don't need him. I told myself. I will be like Nellie Bly. I may not have come here of my own accord, but I will still expose all of it's nasty secrets. I watched the car pull away, no tears in my eyes. After all, I am my fathers daughter.

**Like it, Hate it? Leave your comments in a review! **

**Ink. **

**Newsies forever, second to none!**


	2. Chapter 2

**So so so sorry this took so long. I have been in a state of permanent laziness. But as a birthday gift to me, I finally finished this!**

**On a unrelated note, a lot of these characters, with an exception of Race, are based of parts of me. So I really do have Smalls extreme ADHD, Katherines dreams, Spots anger and Jack silence. This is exaggerated of course for the sake of fiction, but yes, I am as messed up as I seem.**

**Disclaimer: For my birthday I got a newsies necklace, shirt, and book. Not the rights. **

I watched his car pull away, until it was nothing more then a dot on the horizon. Even after I could no longer see it, i stood there, wondering how it had come to this, until Medda placed her hand on my shoulder.

" You okay sweetie?" She asked cautiously, as if I was about to have a mental breakdown, which in her profession was a valid concern.

" Fine." I mumbled, turning towards the brick wall that towered over me. " Let's go." Medda grabbed my arm and led me through the tall wrought iron gate.

" Come on, let me show you your dorm." She lead me across the quad, which seemed to be deserted.

" Where is everybody?" I asked, my curiosity getting the better of me.

" In their dorms." She replied, as if it was common knowledge. Seeing my confused look she elaborated. " It's homework time, everyone has to stay in their dorms for.." She checked her golden watch. " another half an hour. Then we have dinner."

" Oh." Was all I could think to say. We stopped in front of a three story brick building with ivy spiraling up the side. Medda smiled.

" Katherine, this is going to be your home for this year." I rolled my eyes. This could never be my home. Medda turned the tarnished knob and pushed the door open, giving me a clear view of the cream colored walls of the hallway. She motioned for me to step inside. I lifted my bags and tentatively stepped inside. I glanced down the hallway to see several doors, each made of dark wood.

" Wheres my room?" I asked, eager to put my bags down. My hands were aching from carrying them across the campus.

" Second floor." Medda responded. She lead me briskly up a staircase, and I marveled at the ornate carving on the banister. Seeing my amazement, Medda paused for a moment to explain the architecture. " You know, this was originally the headmasters home. It was only when we started admitting girls that we turned it into a dorm." she turned away smirking, and we continued up the steps. They were creaking, in a way I knew could be easily fixed. A small part of my brain told me they kept them creaky so no one could escape without alerting them.

She lead me down a hallway identically to the one downstairs, scanning the numbers on the doors.

" Ah, here it is." Medda exclaimed, stopping in front of an identical wooden door. " Room 211." She rummaged around in the pocket of her frilly pink dress, and finally came up with a old fashioned bronze key. She shoved it into the door, and I leaned over her shoulder to see into my room. The door swung open, and I found myself face to face with an energetic auburn haired girl who seemed to be my age. Her hair was cut short, like she did it herself in a moment of temporary insanity. Or taking into consideration the fact that we are here, permanent insanity.

" Hi you must be Katherine." She said, her high voice piercing my ears. She bounced around for a moment before noticing Medda. " I got it from here Miss Medda! I'll show her around during free time! Bye bye now!" She closed the door in Meddas face.

" Umm.. Hi" I said, shifting from foot to foot awkwardly.

" Hi!" She said chipperly. " Whats your favorite color? favorite food?" at that moment a shrill bell sound came from the windows, causing me to jump several feet in the air. " Oh it's dinner time, Come on!" She pulled me by the arm down the hallway, passing other girls who seem to be in varying conditions of decency.

" Why are people not wearing the uniform? I was told there was a uniform." I asked Smalls once we reached the quad.

" Oh you only have to wear that during classes." smalls said, practically bouncing as we made our way to the cafeteria. She dragged me all across the quad, waving to people as she went. She grabbed my tray for me, and I simply watched as she filed it with way more food then I would eat and dragged me to a table full of boys from 8 or 9 to my age.

" Hey guys!" Smalls said, plopping my tray down. " This is Katherine, my new roommate." The boys all uttered various hellos, except for one dark hair boy whose head was buried into a drawing he was doing. I watched him for a few moments before realising Smalls was talking.  
" I'm sorry what did you say?" I asked, turning away from the boy with the mop of dark waves.

" I said this is Racetrack, Spot, and Romeo." She said, motioning to a dirty blonde haired boy with a cigar, a angry looking short boy, and a grinning dark hair kid.

" Hello, lady. Me think you're going to need a real man." Said the one called Romeo with a smirk.

" You thinks wrong Romeo." I said coyly. I turned to Racetrack. " Are you allowed that cigar?"

" Nah. " He said. " nicked it." I shut up after that, and simply listened to their conversations. After a few minutes of listening, I dared to ask a question on my mind.

" Are you all insane?" I wondered. " You don't really act it." Then I thought of Smalls fingers drumming on the table, Race stealing the cigar and Spots permanent scowl.

" Yeah, I'm fucking insane, but at least I am free." Racetrack replied matter of factly.

" You ain't free." Spot said with a angry voice. " you're here ain't ya?"

**Thanks for reading! Please review!**

**Ink**


	3. Chapter 3

**SO SO SO SORRY THIS TOOK FOREVER! I have had a long few months…**

**Disclaimer: I saw newsies (twice!) but I didn't buy it. **

Darkness fell over the school quickly, wrapping us all up in a blanket of stars. Even the most insane of us had let their shrieks give way to yawns, much to the relief of the nearly-deaf staff. Smalls and I walked silently across the green, drawn to the brightly lit dorm like moths to a flame. We were each lost in our own thoughts, too tired to make conversation. My mind wandered to the boys who Smalls seemed to know everything about. They were there own little family.

" Night Katherine." Smalls whispered, her back to me as she climbed into bed. The lights flickered off, and we soon were wrapped in the blanket of darkness. The window was bolted shut, moonlight streaming in and casting shadows on the floor. The doors lock clicked, and I heard the telltale clanking of Meddas high heels. The sound echoed down the hall, until it was nothing but a muted click, like the sound of the washing machine down the hall. I listen to her footsteps till my eyes fluttered shut, and then her footsteps were replaced with pounding sound gunshots.

_I stood stoically on a worn wooden porch, gazing at the war torn sky. The sky lit up as a cannonball ripped across the great blue abyss. In that moment, it was beautiful, but I knew as soon as it landed it would destroy a human being. Gunshots rang in my ears. I glanced around for the boy I knew would die tonight, but he was no where to be found. In fact, the battlefield itself was only a sea of blue and grey uniforms in the distance. I wondered briefly if the boy had already been shot, and was dieing a long and painful death in the house behind me. _

" _Kate, do come inside. You dress is getting all dirty and I don't like you watching the battle. It's not lady like." A women said while emerging from the house. I stared at her for a few moments taking in everything from the laugh lines in the corners of her eyes, the her pursed lips and greying hair. She stepped towards me and brushed dirt off my dress. I recoiled. _

" _You can see me?" I stuttered, wondering what made this time different from the rest. I had a theory, and I didn't like it. _

" _Of course I can see you, I am your mother. Honestly, honey are you okay?" She said, her eyes conveying her concern._

" _Fine." I whispered, as I let her drag me inside her house, the house she said was my house. I marveled at the fact that I could feel her skin, warm against mine. She locked the door behind us, muttering about this war going to be the death of us all. I barely had time to glance around the cozy hall of the house when a little boy plowed into me. He wrapped his arms around me, heaving dry sobs._

" _Kate" He said between sobs. I awkwardly patted his back, feeling sorry for this boy who seemed to have been through so much. " What if David is fighting right now? I need to be there to help him, what if he gets hurt?" I knew that I had to help this boy, so i knelt down to his level, and cupped his face with my hand. _

" _He will be fine." I said, wishing I knew that for sure. " Besides, he would never forgive himself if you were there and got hurt. Plus, you need to be here to be the man of the house." I looked over to my.. mother, wondering if I had said the right thing, but she seemed to have not noticed the exchange between me and the boy. She was staring out the window with a worried expression. " Mother, is something wrong?" I asked. _

" _Take your brother to the cellar." She said solemnly. " The war is coming to us." _

_I took my brothers hand with one hand, and took the gun my mother was holding out for me with the other. I stared at it with confusion. _

" _Your father's." She said, noting my expression. " Now go!" She said, her words gaining a new sense of urgency. _

" _But you.." I started. _

" _I will be fine. I need to protect my home." She said, her face returning to it's defiant state. She kissed my brother's forehead, and shoved us out into a war zone. _

_We ran, pressed against the house, ducking low, hiding behind the line of soldiers in blue. I stood frozen as one fell, shot clean through the chest. My brother dragged me along, towards what I assumed to be the cellar. We reached a place where we couldn't hide behind the lines of soldiers anymore, but instead of running faster, the dark haired little boy froze as a bullet ripped through the air towards us. I acted without thinking. I jumped in front of my frozen brother. _

_There was a flash of pain. _

_And then…_

_Nothing. _

* * *

I didn't die tonight. This was odd, as dieing has become part of my nightly routine. For normal people, dreams are a way to escape reality, but not for me. The sad thing is, my dreams don't hurt as much as living. Maybe that's why I am lock up in a mental institution

Instead of my normal dreams, today I watched a girl, who resembled the new girl I had watched from through my eyelashes at dinner tonight, give her life for her younger brother in the midst of the Civil War. I pondered this as I snuck out of my dorm room, like I do every night to escape the confining walls. I made my way to the roof, so I could watch the stars and draw the scenes from my dream. The sketch book I kept up here was open, and staring at the page, was the new girl.

Who had just died in my dream, and seemed to recognize me.

" You're the one." She whispered, and the world cracked open.

**Thanks for reading! Please take the time to Review!**

**-Ink**


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